One Week Since Last Post!

I made more great memories during these seven days -

when I haven't been posting.
Thursday night, January 15, Charlie and I had 3 other couples at our house for dinner. So fun.
Menu was Steak, Uniquely Baked Potatoes, Wedge Salad w/Ranch Dressing, Sauteed Mushrooms, Iced Tea, Brown n Serve Rolls, and Individual Pastry Shells with 3 different cream fillings and real whipped cream for topping. The 3 fillings were Chocolate, Butterscotch, and Coconut Cream. So - does that make any reader of this blog hungry for something good? It was very good. The meal sounds rather heavy to me when I read that. The focus was more on the mansize appetites and basic foods. We had originally planned to go to Outback, but I don't like Outback - it's loud and heavy - and I knew Charlie and I could prepare better food - and the fellowship would be better. So I offered my home and our food skills. Hence the heavy steak menu. And heavy dessert! But it was all good - and we all had very full tummies....I was a bit miserable, which I do not like - but oh well. The fellowship was good and we laughed a whole lot. It was fun.

Then - Friday morning I had plans to travel to Birmingham - to visit 4 friends who live there and whom I've known since high school and college.

I meant to take my camera so I could post pictures - but naturally I forgot it!!

Let me introduce my friends.

Martha - she and I have known each other since we were little. Our Mothers were pregnant at the same time, with each of us, and we always heard the following story:

Mother(Edith) and Martha's mother(Addie) were friends and had followed each other's pregnancy - I was born in July of 51 and Martha was born 3 months later in October of 51. The story goes that only 2 or 3 months(I don't know this detail) later, after Martha had been born, Mother saw Addie and remarked to her, "Addie, aren't you glad we're not pregnant?!". To that Addie replied, "But I am pregnant." So, Mary, Martha's sister, is about 11, 12, or 13 months younger than Martha. So glad for that slipup, because now we all know the sisters, Martha and Mary!

Martha was always a grade behind me since her b'day was in October, plus she was a member, 2 or 3 blocks over, at the First Baptist Church, and her house wasn't in walking distance to mine - those factors somehow kept us from playing very often together as little girls - but we gravitated back toward each other in high school.

Val - Val is from Evergreen. She was 2 grades below me in school and 1 grade below Martha. Mary, Martha's sister, and Val were in the same grade along with my cousin, Rachel. Val and I hardly knew each other as little girls. We've discussed this before. She did, however, grow up being very close to Martha and Mary. Again, 1st Baptist Church - and I was over at the Methodist Church. But - through my cousin, Rachel, Val and I got to know each other, when we were all in band - and in high school we connected - and through Val I connected to Martha and Mary.

Sarah - Sarah is from Sylvester, GA. She and I met when I transferred from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL to Auburn University. That was in the Winter of 1972. We were assigned as roommates in Dorm H or J on the Hill. It was one of the two "6 stories" dorms nearest the President's Home. Let me just add that in those days, whatever stuff I still had to work through in life, I had already been rooted in the sovereignty of God. I had bathed that roommate situation in prayer - completely. Sarah and I roomed together Winter and Spring Quarters of 1972, Fall Quarter of 1972, and Winter and Spring Quarters of 1973. Sarah graduated in the spring of 1973. The summer of 1973 I moved out of the dorm to begin "apartment" living with Mary and Martha. Let me just add that in the fall of 1972 Martha had transferred from another school and was sharing a suite with Sarah and me in our Dorm on The Hill. So, Sarah and Martha met.

Mary Emily - I know Mary Emily through Sarah. They were both in Speech Therapy. M.E. lived on another floor, in the same dorm - and would come to our room to discuss assignments with Sarah. I kept to myself on my single bed as I worked on my art projects - but eventually M.E. and I began to converse. As we talked I learned that Mary Emily was from Monroeville, AL - only 30 min. from my hometown of Evergreen, AL. I also learned that Mary Emily had just had an awakening, a new understanding - perhaps her new birth - but a new understanding about what it meant to trust Christ - she had just learned that it is the Holy Spirit who empowers each of us, as believers, to live out the righteousness we've inherited from the God of all creation. She, like so many who trust that Christ is the Savior of the world, had been trying to do it through her own efforts. I remember that clearly. She was a very excited, enthusiastic believer in Christ. She had been set free from the bondage of her flesh. She understood that and she was empowered by God and His Holy Spirit. I had been praying for someone to be a friend, someone who understood the gospel. YAY!

So - it was Martha, Val, Sarah, and Mary Emily whom I visited this past weekend. I travelled to B'ham on Friday - had lunch with Mary Emily - and went on to the home of Martha where I was to spend the night. She was having Val and Sarah over for dinner, in honor of my quick trip to B'ham. Mary Emily had been invited, but had plans for the evening - therefore she and I met for lunch.

(an aside - I don't want to talk about it so much right now - but - Martha married my cousin John in 19seventy something - I think 73 or 74- if anyone has read any of my posts on my blog then you know I love my cousins - John died unexpectedly in 2004. It was October 28. So - I refer to Martha, who was a high school buddy - as my "cousin-in-law". Do people say that? They have one son, John Law and he is married to Katie. John Law and Katie have two sons, Jay and William. It was such a shock to all of us and so very unexpected. The grief was at every level.

Also, Sarah's husband, Hube, died in 2006. I had no idea he had been sick. I had just seen Sarah at my Mother's funeral the week before - and the following week Val called to tell me that Hube had died. He had had some illness, but I don't think anyone was expecting him to die. Charlie and I drove down to B'ham for his funeral - we sat with Martha and Val and I visited, not only with Sarah, but with her 2 sisters whom I had not seen in such a long time.)

All of the ladies I visited in B'ham have my highest regard -

and I am inspired by what God is doing in their lives

as He takes them through life's "stuff".

They bless me each time I am with them.

An added bonus to the trip: Martha's two nieces(Mary's daughters) were staying at her house on Friday night. They both have a medical career - like their grandmother, Addie. She was a nurse in Evergreen - a really good nurse. It was such a treat to visit with them, on Martha's couch, after everyone had gone home. So much de ja vu. I also know their dad - of course I almost never see their parents - but they each remind me so much of one or the other.

I drove to Birmingham on Friday and returned on Saturday.

Kate was home for the weekend - so we had a good visit.

She is preparing for a mission trip to China - going with Campus Crusade.

Only for a week - in the spring - but anticipates longer trips in the future -

under God's direction, of course.

And then the inauguration yesterday.

I had it on all day as I milled about the house.

Perhaps I'll comment on that in another post.

I really enjoyed watching all of it and while I am a conservative voter,

it was all very moving and emotional.